1 Samuel 17:23

23 While he [was] speaking to them, {the champion}, whose name was Goliath the Philistine from Gath, [was] coming up from the caves of [the] Philistines. He spoke {just as he had previously}, and David heard [his words].

1 Samuel 17:23 Meaning and Commentary

1 Samuel 17:23

And as he talked with them
About their health, and the errand he came upon, and the message of his father to them, and how it was with him, who sent them his best wishes:

behold, there came up the champion, the Philistine of Gath, Goliath by
name:
of whom see ( 1 Samuel 17:4 ) ; he came out of the valley, and drew near to the mountain the Israelites were descending:

out of the armies of the Philistines:
from the plains where they were encamped, as Kimchi, though they seem to have been encamped on a mountain as the Israelites were; or from the ranks of the Philistines; according to the marginal reading, he came out of one of the battalions that were set in array:

and spake according to the same words;
which he had spoken time after time forty days successively, namely, what is expressed ( 1 Samuel 17:8-10 ) ;

and David heard [them];
and observed them.

1 Samuel 17:23 In-Context

21 Israel and [the] Philistines drew up [in] battle lines, {one battle line against the other}.
22 David left the baggage [he had] with him in the {care} of the baggage keeper, ran to the battle line, and came and {asked how his brothers were doing}.
23 While he [was] speaking to them, {the champion}, whose name was Goliath the Philistine from Gath, [was] coming up from the caves of [the] Philistines. He spoke {just as he had previously}, and David heard [his words].
24 When all the men of Israel saw the man, they fled from his presence and were very afraid.
25 And the men of Israel said, "Did you see this man who has come up? For he [is] going up to defy Israel! It will be [that] the man who defeats him, the king will make him very rich with great wealth and will give him his daughter [in marriage] and will make his father's house free in Israel."

Footnotes 3

  • [a]. Literally "the man of the space between"
  • [b]. So the Masoretic Hebrew text (Kethib); the reading tradition (Qere) and LXX have "ranks"
  • [c]. Literally "according to these words"
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